Why are pediatricians so bad compared to adults' doctors?

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Every time I saw a doctor as a child, it was nothing but horrible! They always acted callous, uncompassionate, and seemed to blatantly lack understanding of how pain feels to a child. Not that it's relevant or not, but all my pediatric doctors were women, and I'm male. (Although allegedly, women/girls have a higher pain threshold than men/boys.)

The above was true only for pediatric generalists. Specialists who worked with patients of all ages, but also saw me, were generally great. They were mixture of men and women. My urologist at age 10 was male, had excellent bedside manners, and I liked him a lot. His patience with my lack of understanding of his instructions to "turn and cough" was commendable! He took time to explain to me what he was doing, and what it was for. But I also knew at the time that his specialty was urology, not pediatry.

Most pediatricians I saw were horrible! They acted patronizing, while at the same time borderline sadistic. When they gave me vaccines, drew my blood, or did whatever other generalist pediatric crap, they seemed to enjoy seeing me in pain. Not only that, they ALWAYS brought up how scared I looked, with my parents in the room listening! Which meant me getting in trouble at home, and sometimes losing my cartoon-watching privileges that night as my punishment for "not being brave enough".

Well, my pediatric dentist and his assistant, who I saw at age 11 to 12, after moving cross-country, were OK. Their bedside manners were good enough, and they were good sports about answering my questions, but they still left something to be desired. Even so, they were the exceptions, rather than the rules. The majority of pediatric medical workers I saw as a child were garbage!

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Fast-forward to today. I developed pretty severe health problems in the last year or so. But when I went to a local hospital for treatments, EVERY doctor who treated me, from my Internal Medicine PCP, to the specialist performing surgery on me, to the radiology techs doing my PET-CT scan, were nothing short of great! Their bedside manners are impeccable. Their compassion with my skittishness during visits is top-notch! And their patience with me asking "too many questions" is commendable!

So... why are pediatric doctors so callous, and lack understanding of children's pain, while adult doctors' are so helpful, patient, and compassionate? (By "doctors", I'm referring to all medical workers, not just MD's.)

I never had a problem with my doctors as a child. They all treated me with respect.

... I don't recall ever having a pediatrician.

I imagined that it must've been nice, knowing what to do with whatever bodily issues I had instead of outright ignoring it, pass it as some form of common malady that just ends after a week.

Partially because it's expensive if taken too seriously, and partially because I do not take it seriously and don't want others to take whatever I got seriously.


I would've been an ideal patient; not afraid of needles or pain that came with it, no issues taking meds, never feared any doctors visit or a trip to the dentists...
Only that I can't seem to verbalize questions that young. I'm not even good with that yet at this age.

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I suppose you've never had your child's life saved by a paediatrician / paediatric surgeon.

This adult's pediatrician was fine. My currently available doctors, nurses, and administrators spent three weeks wrecking my general health and setting my PTSD recovery back six months and without ever setting my broken thumb. Cave men did a lot better than that.

Most pediatricians I have encountered have been excellent.

By the way, pediatricians do not generally give the shots nor do blood draws. The nurses give the shots and blood draws are usually done by someone from the lab.

Every kid doesn’t respond well to medical procedures. I raised a big stink over getting 2 stitches when I was 5. It’s not the doctor’s fault. It goes with the territory.

Your parents sound like they were doozies—taking away cartoon privileges because you were scared.

I’ve had plenty of childhood traumas. But now I’m grown up, and work at not being traumatized. It’s better than reliving your past.

I can't say any Doctor I had as a child was any worse than those I've seen as an adult. I can see how things might be experienced differently by a child than an adult though.

I can't say any Doctor I had as a child was any worse than those I've seen as an adult. I can see how things might be experienced differently by a child than an adult though.